Percy Jackson and the Stolen Spellbook
by MStormwriter
Summary: Sequel to Percy Jackson and the Curse of Echidna. Book 2 of 4. Full summary inside. One of Hecate's most prized spellbooks has been stolen, and the prime suspect is Helen. Now Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are reunited for another cross country adventure. On hiatus. WHile you wait, check out my rewrite of the first book. It's called: RE: Percy Jackson and the Curse of Echidna.
1. Chapter 1: A Divine Roadtrip

**I'm finally back. I apologize to all for the delay, I had a hard time getting this up and running, but here we are, Percy Jackson and the Stolen Spellbook. Note to all new readers, this story is a sequel to Percy Jackson and the Curse of Echidna. If you haven't read that, it is strongly advised that you do so. Here's a full summary of this one.**

**Still recovering from the shock of losing his invulnerability, and receiving numerous painful injuries, Percy Jackson is – going on a road trip. But not just any road trip. One of Hecate's most prized spellbooks has been stolen, and the prime suspect is Helen. Now Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are reunited for another cross country adventure. Meanwhile, Nico discovers of a kidnapping in the Underworld, and his father gives him and two of his friends the important task of solving the mystery. As if this wasn't enough for our heroes, war has been declared by the Roman Camp. So far there have only been small, isolated battles around the country, but it won't be long before the war is full blown. Looks like things aren't going to be easy for anyone...**

**Disclaimer: I'm only doing one of these. I don't own Percy Jackson. That's it. End of story.**

Percy Jackson and the Stolen Spellbook

Chapter 1: A Divine Roadtrip

Percy

If you are here, and don't know my story, then you are in for a bumpy ride. I'm Percy Jackson. From appearance I'm just an average sixteen year old kid with black hair, green eyes. I'm not especially tall. Yeah, I'm a little tall, but not especially so. I don't look overly athletic, but I do look moderately so. Oh yeah, and I have a scar down the left side of my face, courtesy of my ex-principal. That's probably where things start to look not so normal. I have ADHD and dyslexia, my current school is the only school I've attended for more than a single year in my life, I know how to sword fight, and my girlfriend has a hat that can turn her invisible. And that's not even the weirdest part. I'm a demigod, a son of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. Unbelievable, I know. I didn't believe it when I was first told that the Greek gods are real. But they are, and if you feel something familiar as you read this, stop immediately. You could be a demigod too, and once you know that, it's all too easy for monsters like my ex-principal to find you, and kill you. I'm lucky. I lived. You may not be. So if you do feel something familiar as you read, be warned. You may be a demigod. And it is a bad time to be a demigod...

-t-S-S-

I threw my house keys in the bowl beside our door. Mom had said she'd be at the library, and Paul was busy trying to get a grip on his new job. Yep, Paul, my stepfather, was no longer a teacher at Goode High School. Now, he was principal. It was quite the good promotion. Haha, good, that joke never gets old. Anyway, for nearly a month now, he had been principal, ever since the "mysterious" disappearance of our last principal.

At the thought of her I reached up to my face and traced my scar. Every time I looked into a mirror I thought of Luke. I had ended up with an almost exact mirror of his scar. Yet, the two of us couldn't have been more different.

But now I was afraid I was more like him than I thought. Almost every night now, I dreamed that I was Kronos. The gods still didn't know what had happened to Kronos's consciousness after his defeat, and these dreams... unsettled me.

This wasn't the only thing that was bothering me. Last month I had fought a kid named Jason, and had injured him. Apparently he came from a camp of demigods who worship the Roman forms of the gods. He was the son of "Jupiter" and his pride had been hurt when a "mere" son of "Neptune" had injured him. So now he was leading the Roman camp, whose name I could never remember because it was in Latin, to war against us, the Greeks. According to Chiron, this hadn't happened since the 1860s, during the American Civil War. Afterwards the gods had layered thick mist between the two camps so that they wouldn't meet or interfere with each other. But now that Jason had made the presence of this Roman camp known, we could find each other... and hurt each other. So far there had only been small, remote battles, but it was only a matter of time before the they got more intense, and closer to camp.

The thing was, some of our campers wanted war. Apparently they were still miffed about the whole "Rome took over Greece" thing, and they (mostly the Ares cabin) wanted revenge.

Regardless of all this, I was in a relatively pleasant mood. It was winter break now, December 18th. It had been a half-day at school so that all the teachers and Students could be home in time for the festive occasion that was Christmas. I was, of course, looking forward to Christmas, but I had plans before then. I was going to Mount Olympus on the Winter Solstice. I was to be in attendance to give the gods a report-card, if you will, on how they were doing at keeping their promise to me. As soon as I got my things packed, I was off to Olympus, to spend a few days there with my friends, enjoying the festivities leading up to the meeting. For not only was the meeting of the gods coming up, but today was the groundbreaking of the newly refurbished Olympus. The festivities were to be going on for a week, ending on Christmas day, with the meeting of the gods taking place almost exactly half way through the festival. The groundbreaking was to take place in an hour, so I'd have to hurry.

I went to my room and emptied my backpack. I started packing it with the necessary clothes and other things. I made sure Riptide was in my pocket, couldn't be too careful. I grabbed a watch from my bedside table. I had received it a week ago as an early Christmas present from my half brother, Tyson. It had come with a note saying- Please do not break or lose this one brother. When I first read the note, I had laughed. Now I put the watch on my wrist. You could never be too careful, especially now. For me, defending myself was a major problem. Until recently I had borne the curse of Achilles and had been invulnerable. But I was vulnerable again, and was constantly being painfully reminded of that fact, like when I had burnt myself on my toast a week ago, or when I had given myself a minor concussion when I tripped in the park, or when I had been stabbed in my already bad shoulder by a dracaena.

Relearning the limits of my own mortality was a pain, and I was probably going to get myself killed in the process.

Hopefully, though, my new shield would lessen my chances of seriously injuring myself. I finished packing for my stay at Olympus and then hurried outside. I still had two hours before the opening ceremony began, but I thought that I might as well go.

I walked out into the cold December air and decided that maybe I should zip up my coat. Then I caught a taxi and told the driver to take me to the Empire State Building.

-t-S-S-

When I got there the lobby was overcrowded. I saw demigods, yeah, but I also saw several gods standing in the lobby. Even my dad. I hurried towards him. He was standing with Hades, having a fast conversation with hades. They were speaking in something that sounded suspiciously like Latin. This did not bode well. At war with a camp of Roman demigods and my father and uncle were speaking in Latin. I cleared my throat and they stopped talking instantly, turning to face me. My father grinned, but it seemed forced. "Percy! Good to see you!"

"Hi dad," I said. "Hello uncle," I added with a little bow towards Hades. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you discussing in Latin?"

The smile slid from my father's face instantly. He cleared his throat. "You needn't worry about it Percy."

"I needn't worry about it?" I repeated. "Dad, Camp Half-Blood is at war with the Roman camp. Don't tell me not to worry about it. Whatever it is has to do with them doesn't it? That's why you're speaking their language, that's why you stopped talking as soon as I walked over. Why are you hiding things from me, from all the campers? Is it because the gods favor the Romans? I-"

"Perseus!" my father roared. He wasn't one who angered easily, but I had pushed him too far. "Do not question me. We gods have our reasons for all things. Now, this matter is closed!"

Then the strangest thing happened everything around me seemed to freeze. Time had stopped. It was only for a moment, and I had no time to process what had just happened because I heard a call of, "Percy!"

I turned and suddenly found myself being hugged by Annabeth. Behind her stood Thalia and Rachel. Annabeth pulled back a little. "I'm glad you're here. Come on."

She grabbed my wrist and pulled me off. As I was walking away I barely caught Hades saying something in Latin, presumably resuming the conversation I had interrupted. Annabeth led me, Thalia, and Rachel over to the elevator to Olympus. Grover met us over there.

"Hey guys," he called.

Annabeth let go of my wrist and stood facing us. "You guys get a very special treat. The four of you get to see the finished Olympus before anyone else, even Lord Zeus. Are you guys ready?"

Everyone heartily said yes, but my thoughts were to troubled, so I resigned myself to nodding. It's funny how quickly one's mood can change. Until I overheard the conversation between my father and Hades I had been in good spirits. Now dread was weighing me down. And not just from that conversation, but from the moment when time had stopped.

-t-S-S-

Annabeth could tell something was bothering me, so when the elevator doors opened she told everyone to go ahead and then she and I stood alone on the bridge. She turned towards me, concern etched on her face. "You wanna tell me what's up?"

I sighed, then I told her everything, even the time freezing thing. We stood there in silence for a long time. After a while Annabeth said, "Well this is troubling. I wish I'd overheard the conversation; I taught myself Latin. As for the frozen moment... well I don't even know."

"I'm scared Annabeth," I said. "I – I'm turning into him. Into Luke!"

"In the end Luke was a hero," Annabeth protested. "And you are a hero Percy."

She kissed me, but it was a short one, and I was too preoccupied I was the one who pulled back, sighing. "I – I can't Annabeth. I have this – this abomination on my face," I said pointing at the scar. "And then time stopped in a moment when I was incredibly angry. What if Kronos is inside me! What's going to happen to me, what's going to happen to you? I-"

She cut me off with another kiss, but this one was more forcefull. In it I sensed that she wanted me to stop talking and just comply with the kiss. This time she pulled away. "It's going to be fine Percy. You are not turning into Kronos." I could see her eyes shining with tears. She was terrified that I might become like Luke. Completely lose myself and become possessed by Kronos. I was determined to not let that happen. I set my face and nodded determinedly. Besides today was a day of celebration. It was a happy day. More importantly it was Annabeth's day. I wasn't going to let anything intrude upon this fact. Of course, I didn't really have a say in the matter anyway, the day was already going to be intruded upon...

-t-S-S-

About an hour later, after Annabeth had made a speech and Olympus was officially opened to all the gods and demigods, Annabeth, Grover, and I found ourselves listening to a concert being performed by the Muses. It was the happiest I'd ever seen the citizens of Olympus. Even Zeus seemed to be in a good mood.

"I wish every day could be like this," Grover said, sighing contentedly and laying back. "It would be really nice if every day we could just relax and listen to music."

I laughed. "Yeah, but we wouldn't be us if nothing interesting ever happened to us." Annabeth and I joined Grover in laying back. "But it would be nice if we got more days like this. Zeus knows we need it." Thunder rumbled and Zeus glared at me. "Sorry uncle," I called. "Just an expression."

The three of us lay there for what felt like hours, just listening to the music. Finally Annabeth stood up. "Come on, I want to show you guys something."

We followed her up through the streets of Olympus, which looked newer, cleaner, and just altogether, better. Annabeth had done a wonderful job with it. Finally we arrived at the throne room of the gods. As always the ceiling displayed the night sky. Annabeth was squinting around at the ceiling, looking for something. Then she smiled widely and pointed. There was a new constellation. It looked like a boy with a sword...

Grover gasped. "It's you Percy!"

My eyes widened. "It... is?"

Annabeth nodded, smiling wider than ever. "Artemis told me that the gods decided to add it today sometime after the opening. I wasn't sure how long it would take, but there you are Percy. And there's an equivalent of it in the real night sky. It's called Poseidon's Son."

I couldn't help it. I kissed Annabeth, trying to communicate how thankful I was. After we pulled away, she giggled a little, then said, "You know, it's really Artemis you should thank, she suggested it."

I chuckled. "I don't think Artemis would enjoy my thanks."

"Um guys," Grover said, a little nervously. We turned. Standing there was a goddess I'd never seen before. She was tall, even though she was human size right now, with long hair that was somewhere between auburn and brown. Her eyes though, made me jump a little at first. They were exactly the same as Helen's.

I had now doubt now who this was; Helen's mother, Hecate, goddess of magic. "Hello Percy Jackson," she said in a smooth, calming voice. "As you have probably guessed by now, I am Hecate, goddess of magic. I would have a word with you, in private." The doors to the room slammed shut, seemingly of their own accord. A magical barrier suddenly appeared. There was no way out. I pulled out my pen, uncapped it, and held my sword tightly. Hecate rolled her eyes. She raised one hand and my sword jerked out of my own hand and zoomed to hers. "Don't bother Jackson. I do not wish to harm you. Any of you. In fact I require your help."

I raised my eyebrows, but it was Annabeth who spoke next. "Help with what?"

Hecate took a deep breath. "Where to begin? Well I suppose I shall start with the day I claimed my daughter."

The scene around us dissolved, to be replaced by new surroundings. We stood in the middle of the dining pavilion at camp, but something felt... off. The colors seemed less vibrant, and smell had completely disappeared, even though we should have been able to smell the food. We stood by the Hermes table. It was amazing none of them had spotted us. Then one of them stood up – and walked strait through me. It was then I understood. We weren't really there.

I looked around. The Poseidon, Zeus, Hera, and Artemis cabins' tables were completely empty, but the Hermes table was way overcrowded, some of them having to squat on the floor, holding there plates in one hand.

I looked and saw him. Luke. That was when the next piece of truth hit me. We had gone back in time. I also saw Helen. She looked to be about ten or eleven, frowning as if deep in thought. She stood, taking her plate to the fire she dumped the rest of her food in. Apparently she wasn't that hungry. Just then everyone gasped, and I did too. Above her head was s ymbols, a bubbling cauldron.

The scene faded away, replaced by the throne room on Olympus, the colors were back to normal, and I suddenly realized how much I smelled without realizing, because my sense of smell came rushing back to me suddenly.

Hecate looked at us a little sadly. "You just witnessed the claiming of my daughter. You'd think things would improve from there, but they don't. You see, Helen wanted to move into my cabin, but at the time I had no cabin at camp. Chiron tried to explain to her that the 'minor' gods didn't have cabins at camp, but Helen got angry and ran away. Then she came to me."

Again we were in a scene from the past. Helen was in the foyer of what looked like one of the mansions on Olympus, and there stood her mother, towering over her.

"I can't Helen," Hecate sighed. "Olympus is no place to raise a child. Demigods must be raised my their mortal parents."

"But I can't be!" Helen roared. "Dad is dead! He was killed by an empousa, which I have no need to remind you, are your servants!"

"I did not order them to attack you and your father," Hecate continued calmly. "Some of them do not obey me anymore. Regardless of whether or not you have a father anymore, you can't stay on Olympus."

"Where do I go then!"

"Back to Camp Half-Blood," Hecate snapped. "It is the only place for you."

"I'm not wanted there! There isn't even a cabin for me at camp. They don't even recognize you as a proper god. But Zeus and Poseidon get cabins, and there are no children of them at camp. And Hera and Artemis will never have children, but do they get cabins? Of course they do! I would have to continue to stay in the Hermes cabin, and I wouldn't even be really wanted there."

"You can't stay on Olympus!" Hecate burst out. "Some of the gods have tried it before, it never works out!"

"Fine," Helen said, turning on her heel. When she reached the door she turned around in time to say, "I hate you," to her mother, then she left, the doors slamming shut behind her.

We returned to the present. Hecate continued, as if choking up a little. "Well, as you just saw, Helen and I had a bit of a falling out. Then she joined Kronos. I will not pretend to you that I didn't join Kronos to try to make up with my daughter. On the contrary, that was one of the biggest factors that went into my decision. But Kronos fell, and you, Percy Jackson, you asked for me and the other gods to be pardoned for helping him. But, you see, Helen remained angry with the gods, and with me. I know you met her earlier this school year and fought her several times.

"Well what happened next is... most disturbing. You see, she has stolen something. Something of mine. A spellbook. In fact the spellbook with some of the most powerful and dangerous spells ever created within it. I can't interfere directly, especially when it comes to my own children, but I'm afraid of what my daughter might try to do with it. I want you to bring it back to me, and if you can, her, so that I can apologize for everything."

A small devise appeared in Hecate's hand. "This is a tracking devise. It shows the current location of the book. It is in Niagara Falls currently. You will need to hurry if you are to catch her there. Will you help me, Percy Jackson?"

I hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. But I didn't need all the images just so I could take on this quest. Why did you show me the past?"

Hecate smiled a little. "Because Percy Jackson, I believe it is important to understand the origins of people, especially your adversaries. You may find, if you do, that your enemy isn't all that bad after all, that your enemy just had some bad luck."

-t-S-S-

Next thing we knew we were being picked up by Blackjack pulling the flying chariot. It was just like old times, Me, Annabeth, and Grover going on a road trip together to save the world. The only thing that was missing was a time limit.

"And Percy," Hecate called. "You must get the spellbook before the solstice, that is when magic is most powerful, and when Helen will most likely attempt something big."

What was that about not having a time limit? It was exactly like old times now.

**So, what did you think of the first chapter of the second book? I hope you enjoyed it and will enjoy the entirety of the book.**


	2. Chapter 2: Playing Private Eye

**Hello everyone. I am sorry it has taken so long to update, but a friend of mine died recently and needless to say I've been a bit too preoccupied to write fanfiction. This is the first chapter from Nico's point of view, let me know if I do Nico okay and what I can do to improve my writing style for Nico.**

Chapter 2: Playing Private Eye

Nico

I was enjoying the party the gods were throwing at the new Olympus. Josiah, one of the twins from Goode, was with me. We had become quite good friends over the last few weeks. He was tall and lanky, with curly blond hair and gray eyes. You couldn't see his eyes though, because they were hidden behind a pair of aviator sunglasses. He was wearing dark jeans, an untucked white button down shirt, and a black leather jacket. The whole outfit was topped off by a fedora. He looked ready to go out to a club.

Based on his appearance and the way he valued his own coolness, one would think he was a son of Aphrodite, or Apollo. But, in fact, he was the son of Athena. His twin brother and he were very different, even though they looked identical. Ben (Josiah's identical twin) shared his looks, but wasn't cool like Josiah. Ben wore rectangular glasses. Both of them were very smart, but Ben seemed to be smarter, in fact he acted like a "proper son of Athena should," I believe Ben phrased it.

I liked Ben, but he and Josiah didn't get along great, and Josiah was frankly more fun to hang out with.

Anyway, Josiah and I walked along the streets of the newly rebuilt Olympus, enjoying the fun. I saw Percy, Annabeth, and Grover walking by, but just as I was about to wave to them, I saw someone I didn't really want to spend time with, because every time we did spend time together, we ended up fighting. This was the person that I had asked for advice from both Percy and Thalia about, and neither had really helped me. Unfortunately this person was also good friends with Josiah. I was talking, of course, about Shifa Blake.

She was slightly shorter than me, with tan middle eastern skin and facial features that seemed to be Persian. Today she wore blue jeans and a _Relay for Life_ t-shirt. Her long, dark hair was braided today, and she appeared in a good mood. Not that that would stop us from arguing. She was the daughter of Ascelpius, god of medicine and healing. Of course Shifa valued saving a sick or dying person's life above anything. I, being the son of Hades, didn't enjoy people dying, but I knew when to accept when someone was a goner. Let's just say that the two of us didn't exactly see eye to eye.

But she came over to the two of us, determined as always, o try and be friends with me. But the fact was that an argument was bound to break out before long. I tried my very best to maintain a nice attitude though, and, surprisingly, the day didn't go badly at all. Night had fallen across Olympus, and Josiah and Shifa were deep in conversation about the newest additions, and I was eating – cotton candy. Even the gods liked it apparently.

"I especially like how even my father has a statue recognizing him," Shifa was saying. "All the minor gods are getting the respect they deserve, finally."

Josiah nodded, fighting to keep a smirk about something hidden. "Yeah, it is." Then he turned to me and murmured, "Kinda funny that she thinks her own father is minor."

I raised my eyebrows. If that was what he had been trying not to smirk about, it was a lame excuse. Josiah was funny most of the time, but sometimes he came across as just... peculiar.

Just then however, my father appeared. My raised eyebrows immediately furrowed. "Nico," he said. "Could I have a word?"

I shared a questioning look with Josiah, and we seemed to have a silent conversation. In less then a second I understood that he would eavesdrop on the conversation and use his amazing Athena skills to decipher any hidden messages or meaning. Not that I didn't trust my dad, but Percy had pulled me aside earlier and told me in a hurried whisper, "Our dads were talking in Latin, and since we're at war with the Romans, that isn't a good sign. Keep an eye out, but don't tell your dad that I told you."

I had, of course immediately rushed to tell Josiah, and the two of us had agreed to pay attention to anything fishy, and this certainly counted as fishy. "Very well, father," I said.

I followed him a little distance away, and into a mansion. Apparently the owners had not expected company, for they were engaged in a activity in the entry area that they would not have wanted to be seen.

They both gasped in surprise as we entered, then teleported quickly away. My father turned to me. "Nico, I am going to cut to the chase. You remember Iapetus? The titan Jackson washed in the waters of the Lethe? Well someone has kidnapped him."

"What?" I burst out. "Who could kidnap a titan?"

"There are several options, of course," he answered. "But I don't have time to personally oversee the matter. I must be present here, put up some face. If Hades disappeared in the middle of the reopening ceremonies, then Zeus would think that something was up. The shaky re-admittance I've gained with the other Olympians would vanish. You must go into the Underworld and investigate the crime." Then he added, with a slightly crooked smile, "You might as well take your two eavesdropping friends." He snapped his fingers and the doors burst open, revealing Shifa and Josiah standing there, wearing guilty smiles. Hades turned back to me. "The kidnapping took place in Elysium. Start your investigation there. And get me results by the solstice."

I nodded. Josiah and Shifa looked around uncertainly. My father gripped both of their arms and pulled them into the room. "If you two breath a word of what you overheard to anyone I will personally ensure that you know what it feels like to be affected by the Helm of Darkness."

Both of them nodded in understanding, too fearful to speak. My father left, slamming the doors behind him.

"Well he wasn't pleasant at all," Shifa said. "If he's what awaits after death, no wonder people are afraid of dying."

"Hey!" I snapped. "Don't make fun of my father, he's just going through a lot of stress right now! Right Josiah?"

But Josiah was staring ahead with a dazed expression, then he turned to us, grinning. "Guys, we get to be Private Eyes! How cool is that! Real life investigators! Can you believe it?"

"No," Shifa and I both said glumly.

"Oh, come on," he said. "You guys have got to look at these things with a little enthusiasm. I mean, we get a sneak preview of Elysium! We get to solve a mystery and prove ourselves! Doesn't that appeal to either of you?"

"No," we both said again. Shifa had been dragged into this by my father, and I was not looking forward to the fact that I was missing all the festivities.

Josiah rolled his eyes. "Well, we don't really have much of a choice, do we? Let's find Hephaestus, maybe he'll know where we can find some weapons for us, just in case."

I displayed my knife and pulled out a pistol that fired celestial bronze bullets. "Brought them along just in case."

"Of course the death boy brought along killing devises," Shifa said.

"There's nothing wrong with being prepared," I retorted. "I can't imagine you're prepared to defend yourself in an emergency."

Shifa had pulled out a ruler that quickly expanded into a quarterstaff. "Non-lethal," she said. "This way I can defend myself without _killing_. But I'm sure you must love killing."

"I do not-"

"Hey," Josiah said. "Look at this." While Shifa and I had been arguing he had stepped into another room and had found a sword. "Wonder if they mind if I borrow it? Well anyway, it looks like we don't have to go see Hephaestus after all. Now, Nico, how are we getting to the scene of the crime?"

I took a couple of deep breaths. "We shadow travel of course."

They both gripped my arm, Shifa a little reluctantly, and we disappeared.

-t-S-S-

When we emerged from the shadow stream we were standing in front of silver and gold wrought gates. In ancient Greek there was a blessing, saying, "Those dead who enter here will forever know happiness, and never know pain."

Shifa seemed mildly impressed. "Have to admit, this wouldn't be such a bad place to die to."

I took this as a sign that we were done arguing, for now at least. I led the way, opening the gates. We entered into an entry square of sorts. The cobbled street was made of gold bricks. Gigantic mansions stood all around. Shops and stalls stood all around the square and the dead people walked through the square, chatting happily with one another and shopping.

"Wow!" Josiah said upon seeing a number of fedoras weaved from golden thread.

"Like it?" asked the man running the stall. "That's real gold too, but fits on your head light as a feather."

"How much is it?" Josiah asked hurriedly.

"How much- oh you mean money! You must have recently died. Everything in Elysium is free."

I walked over. "He's not dead John," I said.

"Oh ho," John said, looking at Josiah with new interest. "Not often we get living people other than Master Nico down here. Here take a hat," he added.

Josiah barely concealed a squeal like a giddy school girl.

I rolled my eyes. Just what he needed, a golden fedora. I turned back to John. He had died in his mid-thirties and had brown hair and a beard. His eyes, though they had been green in life had turned black, just like all the other dead, but they twinkled happily. "Listen John," I lowered my voice. "Have you heard about the recent kidnapping down here?"

"You mean the one of Iapetus?" he asked, quietly. "I mean, uh, Bob."

I nodded. "Yeah, can you tell me anything about it?"

John lowered his voice further, but I was sure Josiah and Shifa were catching every word. "It was in the paper. 'Bob' had been tending some flowers up the street in central square. Then, suddenly, there was a flash f light and he was gone. That' all I know, but you may be able to get some information from some of the other people who had been at the crime scene. I know of one guy, Graham I think is name is, who lives just down the block, who witnessed the attack."

"Thanks," I said. "What does this Graham guy look like?"

"He's got long, dark hair," John said. "A little on the short side. Young too. Twenty-three I believe when he died. Good kid."

"Alright, well I'll see you around John," I said.

The three of us then proceeded to look for this Graham person. I saw several familiar faces, people I'd become acquainted with during my many trips to Elysium, but I didn't stop to say hi. I stopped once or twice to ask about where I might find this Graham guy. Eventually I tracked him down to a building that sold all sorts of photography equipment. Well, not really sold; as John had demonstrated there was no need for money in the underworld.

We walked inside and were immediately blinded by a camera flash. Once our vision cleared we were standing before a young man with longish, dark, wavy hair and brown eyes who was laughing. "Awesome!" he said. "This camera's flash is amazing."

Josiah chuckled a little, meanwhile I turned towards the guy. "Is your name Graham?"

"Yeah," he answered. "What's up?"

Shifa spoke up this time. "We're looking for some information on the kidnapping that happened around here recently and were told you had witnessed it. Could you tell us what you saw?"

Graham cleared his throat. "To be honest I didn't see that much, but my camera did. Not this one, the one that's back at the place I'm staying. If you want I can take you guys there to look at the pictures."

I nodded. "That would be very much appreciated."

-t-S-S-

Jason struggled harder than ever under the weight of the sky. He was sure that if he could only shift his legs a little the weight would be less painful. But it was to no avail. He couldn't move an inch.

Someone appeared at the edges of Jason's vision. It was Atlas. "I'm surprised you are still alive. By this time most heroes would have perished and their dead bodies would be all that was holding up the sky."

Between ragged breaths Jason managed to say, "I... am more... than a normal hero... I am... the son of Jupiter... and the champion... of Juno... I can withstand your punishment..."

"Perhaps, but fr how much longer, I wonder?" Atlas grinned. "I hope you live a few more days Jason Grace, because if you do, then you may very well get to be here to meet my father. I'm sure he'll be very pleased to meet you."

Jason groaned in pain. He could no longer think clearly. Who was Atlas's father?

**AN:There we go. Once again, sorry for the delay, but as I said I've had other things on my mind recently. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**R.I.P. Graham**


	3. Chapter 3: A Thorn in My Side

**AN: Hello. Welcome to chapter 3. At the end of the chapter there will be a notice about how you, the reader, can affect the story. Now onwards!**

Chapter 3: A Thorn in My Side

Percy

Blackjack touched down on the New York side of Niagara Falls, about a mile from the actual falls. The town, Niagara Falls, NY, was... sad. The entire town was run down and in bad shape. Most businesses were closed. I couldn't understand it. So much tourism, there should have been some prosperity in the area.

_Yo, boss, _Blackjack said nervously, _Uh, you wanna go directly to the falls?_

_ No, Blackjack,_ I answered. _We have to check into a hotel, and you have to go hide. Even with the Mist protecting you, it'll still be better if you find somewhere where no one can find you. You go find somewhere to rest, but be ready to get us when Grover calls you._

_ Okay, boss, whatever you say._

So with our bags we stepped off the flying chariot and made our way towards Holiday Inn.

"I don't understand," said Grover. "Why is this town so run-down?"

Annabeth sighed. "Well, Grover, it's a sad story. A big shot developer came in claiming that he was going to build the biggest mall in the world. The government gave him lots of money, and he ran off with it. The landowners around here kept their property stagnant, thinking that just around the corner there would be another developer and they'd all end up rich. But no other big shot developer came, and the property values plummeted. But the landowners still hold on to their land, hoping. It's left the area in bad shape."

It was a sad story. "Why doesn't the government do anything about it?" I asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "All the money goes into the state park right at the falls."

"Blah-ha-ha!" Grover brayed. "It's nice they've got the state park and it's very naturey (unlike the Canadian side) but it would be nice if this area wasn't so bad. If the humans were happier then they'd attend to their own gardens and the area would be in even better shape nature-wise."

"This is no way for a person to live," I agreed.

Finally we arrived at the Holiday Inn, which was in good shape itself. We had just checked in when I heard a beeping in my pocket. I pulled out the device that Hecate had made. It showed the location of the book being at Horseshoe Falls, the biggest of the falls that made up Niagara Falls. "Guys!" I whispered urgently. "The book has stopped moving right by Horseshoe Falls. I'll go check it out, you guys check in."

"You're not going alone," Annabeth said. "Since you've lost your invulnerability you've not be able to keep yourself safe. I'm going with you to watch your back."

"My back isn't what needs watching," I said, cracking a smile.

"You know what I mean!" Annabeth snapped. "I just know you're going to get yourself in a mess, and I want to be there to stop you getting yourself killed."

"Fine," I said. "But we need to hurry. I don't know how long Helen will just stand there staring at the falls."

-t-S-S-

When we arrived at the Horseshoe Falls observation area it was packed with people. Tourists taking pictures, gazing at the falls, couples kissing, and so on. Soon we arrived right where Helen should have been. She wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"You don't think she's invisible?" I asked.

"Not unless she's intangible too," Annabeth answered, looking at the device in my hands. "According to that thing we're standing right on top of her.

We looked around a bit, then decided that it wasn't any good. "Maybe if we take a break we'll think of something," I suggested.

We walked over to an empty spot on the railing and gazed at the falls. They roared, battering our eardrums and coating us with a thin layer of normal mist. It really was lovely. I looked at Annabeth. She was staring at the falls, lost in thought.

"I love you," I said.

She turned towards me. "And I love you."

Our faces edged closer together and then our lips were touching-

"I think I may be sick," said a snide voice behind us.

We broke apart and spun around. Standing there, looking vindictive was a man with one blue eye and one brown eye. His gray hair was cut military style. He wore a nice suit. "Perseus Jackson," he said. "I had hoped we'd meet again." It was Dr. Thorn. "Really you should learn to look up." He pointed at the sky where Hecate's device said the book was. There was a helicopter hovering there. "You see, the sound the falls made drowned out the sound of the helicopter. So, when I was convinced you weren't going to look up, I decided to greet you myself. I slowly lowered myself to the ground and now here I am."

"Dr. Thorn," I said, "don't think you can beat us. Bring Helen down here with the book and I won't have to turn you into that monster powder stuff."

Dr. Thorn laughed. "You cannot defeat me Jackson. And even if I thought you could and decided to listen to your terms, I couldn't. Helen is not here."

"But-"

"The book is with us, but not Helen," Dr. Thorn said. "You see, the book cannot be teleported, but Helen needs to set things up for her spell on the solstice."

"Well then," Annabeth said, "we'll just have to take the book before you can get it to her."

Thorn chuckled. "I'm afraid not. You two are going to die today."

A spike launched from behind him as I quickly activated my shield. But he hadn't been aiming for me. I watched as the spike flew past me and Annabeth dodged it. But unfortunately it caused her to topple over the railing into the rushing water below.

"Annabeth!" I screamed. I flicked open Riptide and threw it at Dr. Thorn, then, without waiting I jumped into the water after Annabeth. She would die if I didn't protect her from the smashing waters below. I sped along towards her, speeding myself up to catch her. I wrapped my arms around her as we went over the falls. I prayed to my father, then I brought the water below upwards to catch us, using my powers to soften the impact to a bearable level.

We plunged into the freezing water and I quickly enveloped us in an air pocket. I looked at Annabeth. She was unconscious, but breathing. I relaxed a little, then I felt a massive force battering my air pocket. It wasn't just the falls, it was something else... something sinister.

A figure removed itself from the water. He was made of what appeared to be thickened water. He looked to be a fish, but with the head of a human man. He would've looked ridiculous, except anger twisted the face. I had no doubt that he was the source of the force battering my air pocket.

"Son of Poseidon," his deep voice roared. "I am the spirit of these falls. You have intruded upon my territory, and for that you must die!"

My air pocket collapsed and for the first time in my life I knew the fear of drowning. The water pouring into my lungs wasn't compatible. I choked, trying to draw air, trying to breath. I was going to die here at the bottom of the river and there was nothing to do about it.

Then something happened. Time froze, everything became tinged with gold and suddenly Annabeth and I were on the docks of the Maid of the Mist (which were closed since it was winter) spitting up water. I was soaked to the bone, and everything was still tinged in gold, but the colors were fading back to normal. There was a massive roar and a huge pillar shot out of the water. Niagara was not happy I had gotten away.

-t-S-S-

When we finally joined Grover in the Hotel room, I had already told Annabeth everything, and now we told Grover what had happened.

"And we need to get going," I concluded. "Dr. Thorn and the book are already on the move. They're heading west."

"You need to rest for a couple hours," Grover said. "Both of you. We'll leave once it's dark."

-t-S-S-

Clarisse gazed down at the camp, where several small fires burned. It was dark and the Roman Half-Blood Army had set up in a valley. It seemed like a stupid move. They were surrounded by hills, allowing an enemy to easily overrun them using the hills to their advantage. She chuckled quietly. The fools. This raid was going to be textbook easy.

A light flashed across from the top of the other hill. The other troops were in position. Clarisse held her fist up and whispered to the soldiers behind her, "When I flash my flashlight we charge the Roman Camp."

The soldiers behind her nodded. Clarisse flashed the flashlight, pulled out her spear and charged down the hill, the others running behind her. The two groups met in the center of camp without seeing a single Roman.

"This isn't right," Malcolm said. He was the commander of the other group of troops who had been on the other hill."Why is there no one here. It's almost like a-"

A roar sounded from the tops of the hills above. Suddenly a huge Roman Force emerged on the hilltop and charged the troops from Camp Half-Blood.

"-trap," Malcolm finished.

"Get ready!" yelled Clarisse.

The Greeks scrambled to get into better positions. And then the Romans collided into their ranks. Clarisse darted about, stabbing a Roman in the gut and electrocuting him. Clarisse kept up a steady stream of attacks throughout the battle. None of them were a match for her, but her soldiers were dropping like flies under the Roman onslaught.

Then a soldier emerged from the Romans, who appeared t be the leader by the way he was yelling orders. He was tall, with blond hair and a golden lance. _Finally,_ Clarisse thought.

She charged at him and the two had a raging battle of spears. Once while their spears were locked together Clarisse grudgingly said, "You're good Roman. Son of Ares?"

"No," he grunted. "Son of Jupiter."

"And what is your name, Son of Jupiter?"

"Jason," he said. "Jason Grace."

"Grace?"

Clarisse was surprised and let her guard down. It was a fatal mistake. Literally. Jason's lance flew towards her a threw her skull, killing her instantly.

Clarisse La Rue was no more.

**AN: How'd you like that shock? Clarisse, dead. Anyway, that's not what this note is about. It's about how YOU can affect the course of the story. After each Percy chapter is put up I will put a poll up about where you would like Percy to visit next in his search. The poll will close when I start writing the next Percy chapter. So go onto my profile and vote for where he should go! This time's options: Detroit and Columbus. So vote vote vote!**


	4. Chapter 4: Rue the Day

**AN:I'm finally back. I won't try to explain/make excuses for why I was gone, I'll just say that I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so very very sorry for the wait. I hope you haven't given up on me.**

Chapter 4: Rue the Day

Nico

After obtaining the photos and an argument between Shifa and I about death, we went to a nearby cafe to look at the photos and get some food. I checked my Underworld Sundial. It was five in the evening up above.

"Alright guys, I've examined the photos," Josiah said. "Would you like my professional analysis?"

"Sure," I said. "You are a son of Athena."

"And a private eye," Josiah added.

Shifa rolled her eyes. "Just get on with it." She was already in a bad mood from our argument.

"Geez," Josiah said, "touchy." He put the first photo on the table. "So, this is right before kidnapping. We see Iapetus here, tending the flowers. According to you, Nico, he started doing that weekly after becoming Bob, correct?" I nodded. "Right. So he's watering the flowers. Now look here and see what's different. What's out of place." Shifa and I leaned over the photo. Crowds filled the square. Nothing odd immediately caught my eye.

"Well?" Shifa asked.

Josiah rolled his eyes. "Here, here, and here." He pointed out three seemingly inconspicuous individuals in the square. I noticed what he had pointed out and gasped. Josiah nodded approvingly. "Do you see it Shifa?"

"See what? You just pointed to three people."

"Their eyes," I said. "Look at their eyes and compare them to everyone else in the photo."

Shifa glanced down again. "I see a pair of blue eyes, green eyes, and yellow eyes. So?"

"Two things," Josiah said. The first is that everyone in the underworld has black eyes. You haven't noticed it?"

"But-" Shifa looked confused. "But wait, Graham had brown eyes."

"Ah," I said, "But you see sometimes a person can retain eye color for up to a week after they die. It doesn't usually happen, but it's not unheard of."

"I see," Shifa said. "Just another way that the underworld is undercutting all that the individual stands for."

"Really? You're going to pin this on me? You know-"

"The other thing," Josiah butted in with, "is the fact that we only know of one person with yellow eyes. She went to our school, Shifa."

"Helen?" Shifa asked. "Why's she interested in Iapetus?"

"The question is, why is Krios interested in Iapetus," I said.

"Right," Josiah said. He laid down the next photo. "This one is during the kidnapping. What do you see?" We looked at the photo. It was blank white. "Nothing right? So from this we can deduce that Helen used a flash to mask what she did. At first I thought that that was all the photo had to tell. But look more closely. You'll see that you can actually see vague shapes in the white." I looked again. Sure enough, he was right. Three shapes holding what appeared to be swords were around the fourth, presumably Iapetus. The shapes were only a slightly darker shade of white. I wouldn't have seen them if Josiah hadn't told me to look for them specifically. "So three people with swords accosted Iapetus and stole him away. But three against a titan? Not likely, unless they were all Percy Jackson. Which leads me to believe that a spell to dull Iapetus's mind was placed prior to the assault. For the goddess Hecate, that wouldn't be too much trouble. Iapetus's mind was already slightly dull from the bath he took in the Lethe. But for a mortal, even a mortal as strong in magic as Helen, it would be nigh on impossible. Unless, of course she had the means to make a power medallion."

"Power medallion?" Shifa and I asked.

"One of the alleged items that Hecate designed. It is a seemingly simple piece of metal, but it contains an unlimited supply of power within it. Drawing upon it, even a normal human would have enough power to cast that spell, if they knew the way to do it. However, The only place the designs are supposed to exist are in one of Hecate's private spellbooks. That leads us to the conclusion that Shifa must have broken into her mom's house and stolen the spellbook. But she would have had to do it within the last twenty-four hours, otherwise Hecate would've known about it. Also, Helen would have needed to make the medallion in Hecate's private magical forgery. Otherwise she wouldn't have been able to make one quickly enough to get down here and kidnap Iapetus."

"This is quite complicated," I said. "Couldn't Helen have just stolen a medallion?"

Josiah shook his head. "Why would Hecate need one? She's already the most powerful magician in the world. She doesn't need a medallion to enhance her powers. She wouldn't have one on hand. Helen would have had to have broken into her mothers house, taken the book, snuck into the forgery, which is probably within the house, make a medallion, and then immediately come here to kidnap Iapetus. That's the only way that this works."

"You deduced all of this from a couple of barely visible silhouettes in a photograph?" Shifa asked. "Maybe you are smarter than your brother."

Josiah snorted. "Don't ever accuse me of that. I'm the cool one, remember? Ben would've figured that out in the half the time."

I wasn't so sure, but said, "Okay, so what else did you learn?"

"Well we only have one other photo that we can glean any information from," he said. He laid the final photo on the table. It looked almost exactly like the first one, except without Iapetus and without the living people. "As you can see, this photo is very similar to the first one, which leads me to believe that the whole sequence of three photos happened so quickly that no one had time to react. After this one we just see the reactions of people, which aren't really very important to our investigations."

"Alright," I said slowly. "So what should we do next?"

"Well," Josiah said slowly, "I'd like to visit the scene of the incident. Can you take us there?"

I nodded.

-t-S-S-

It took us about an hour to get to the square. It was void of people, probably due to the kidnapping. "What exactly are we looking for?" Shifa asked.

"Anything that might tell us where Helen took Iapetus," Josiah said.

So we looked. And looked. And looked some more. Nothing. There wasn't a trace of anything. Finally we all sat down, too tired to continue our pointless search. "Well that was useless," Shifa said.

I couldn't agree more. Josiah stood up, apparently with some sudden inspiration. "Nico! Helen couldn't teleport here could she?"

I shook my head. "You can shadow travel in here, but standard teleportation isn't possible. The closest she could have teleported would have been the LA Entrance. And Charon wouldn't let her in."

"Are you absolutely certain?" Josiah asked.

"Well... father is always saying that Charon constantly gripes for higher pay..."

"I knew it," Shifa spat. "The lord of the dead is too stingy to properly pay his employees."

"Hey! Don't insult my father! He can't raise Charon's pay because he's almost broke from the overpopulation problems!"

Shifa opened her mouth to respond, but Josiah stepped in again, "So Charon might be bribed into letting her in."

"Not if he knew that she was a servant of Krios, I'm sure of it," I said hotly.

"Then we must assume that Charon didn't know what she was up to," Josiah said. "So she paid Charon, got in, and..."

"She couldn't have made it past the walls of Erebus without raising a huge alert, in which case the gates of Elysium would be locked to even me," I said.

"Ah, but is anyone working near or at the walls untrustworthy?"

I furrowed my brow. "Well we did have some troubles with King Minos a while back. He's one of the judges of the souls that enter. He might be persuaded to let someone in if it profitted him in some way."

"Then we have someone to go see it looks like," Josiah said. "Where would we find King Minos?"

"In the judges' pavilion," I said. "Come on. I'll warn you, it's a bit of a walk, but I don't feel like shadow traveling right now. I drained a lot of energy getting us here."

-t-S-S-

It was nine by the time we made it to the walls, and we were tired. "Look, I don't feel up to a confrontation tonight," I said. "Let's wait till tomorrow, and then go see Minos." Josiah and Shifa agreed. "I'll take first watch," I added. The trip was so short notice that none of us had bags or blankets or anything, so Josiah and Shifa curled up in the yellow-gray grass of the fields of Asphodel.

I turned away from them and stared out into the mass of the dead. After about half an hour, Shifa spoke. "I can't sleep. I can't see the stars."

I turned. She lay on her back, staring upwards at the ceiling. "You can't see the stars when you're sleeping inside," I noted.

"But at least I know they're there," Shifa said. "Here I'm not sure."

I nodded. After a while I asked something that had been bugging me. "Why do you hate me, Shifa?"

"I don't hate you," she said, furrowing her brow. "I just – I don't know. I just can't except that people die prematurely. Of old age, I understand, but from war, famine, disease. I can't... I can't accept that."

"You know, I don't particularly like that either," I said. "Believe it or not, I'm not a huge proponent of death. But I am a son of Hades. I of all people should learn to accept death for what it is." I paused. "You know, Shifa, I had a sister once."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Bianca. She was the greatest. She always looked after me no matter what happened. Then, we met with our destiny, our world. We met with the fact that we were demigods. She – she joined the hunters of Artemis. I didn't understand. Why? Why did SHE LEAVE ME ALL ALONE!" I roared the last part, catching the attention of some of the spirits going by. After all this time, it still hurt that she had chosen the Hunters. I took a calming breath. I hadn't opened up like this to anyone, not even Percy, who had probably figured this all out himself. Yet, I felt like Shifa needed to hear this, to understand.

"And then, she went on a quest to save Artemis. Percy went after them because Annabeth's fate was on the line as well. I made him promise to make sure my sister came back okay. I was still hurt. I still am. But I loved her more than anyone. She was my big sister, I had to know she was alright. Well, she died, sacrificed herself to save the rest of the group on the quest. When they returned, Percy pulled me aside, apologizing endlessly for what had happened. I got angry. Really, I was angry at her, and angry at myself too. But I took it out on Percy. There was nothing he could have done to stop her death, but I blamed him all the same.

"I ran away, and became obsessed with finding a way to bring her back to life, and to get revenge on Percy. I made a deal with Minos, but he twisted it, twisted me even further. He was using me to give him a new life and revenge in one fell swoop. In the end though, Percy managed to help me, I managed to come to terms with my sister's mortality, and we stopped Minos from rising again.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't accuse me of wanting everyone dead. I lost someone I loved." And then, out of nowhere, I started crying.

Shifa stood and came to me. "I'm so sorry Nico. I didn't know. I suppose that I'm the way I am because my mother died of cancer. She was a doctor, but she couldn't prevent her own death. After finding out the Greek gods were real, I guess I just blamed your father, and by extension, you."

I took a deep steadying breath.

Josiah sighed. "Well that's usually the type of thing that happens later in a quest." We stared at him. "I was awake the whole time. Look I'm glad that you two are friends now, but usually the whole 'two people who don't get along finally being able to see eye to eye thing' doesn't happen right at the beginning."

"So?" I said.

"So now there's no room for growth in your relationship! Now your relationship is going to be static for the rest of the quest!"

"You're acting like we're in some kind of tv drama," Shifa said.

"Well honestly the way you two argued had me nearly convinced we were," he said.

I cracked a smile. "Let's all just calm down," I said, a chuckle escaping me. "Josiah, I'm sorry that Shifa and I resolved our differences too soon."

He smirked a bit. "Good, you should be. Now, I'm going back to sleep."

"Good night Josiah," I said.

"I think I might finally be able to sleep now too," Shifa said. "Thanks Nico. And I'm sorry. For everything."

"Thank you for listening and understanding," I said.

She nodded and laid back down. I turned away again and stared off towards the wall. _Well,_ I thought,_ that will make this quest about a million times better_.

-t-S-S-

Josiah woke me up (he had had the first watch) to the sounds of, "Get up Nico. Let's go question Minos then get back to Elysium, I'm starving."

"Good morning to you too," I said with a yawn.

Shifa snorted, "If you can call this endless dark morning." On the outside it appeared a direct insult, but the tone was more of a playful jibe.

"True enough," I conceded.

"Come on," Josiah said. "I'm gonna die of hunger here if we don't get a move on. Although I suppose the Underworld would be a convenient place to die, but regardless, come on."

-t-S-S-

We arrived at the pavilion only a few minutes later. The three judges were interviewing a person right now. The three were Martin Luther King Jr., who coincidentally had been a son of Athena, Otto Frank, whose daughter, Anne, is very well known, and, of course, King Minos. Recently, my father had had to triple the number of pavilions, so this was only one team of judges.

The person they were judging was a guy named Theodore Johnson. I'd been there when the man had died. He had been at his daughter's funeral. Heart Attack. Poor guy.

"Well, Mr. Johnson," Otto was saying in a thick German accent, "we understand that..."

"It looks like we have visitors," Minos interrupted. "If it isn't the glorious Ghost King," he spat the last part. His voice thick with irony, he said, "To what do we owe this unexpected _pleasure_."

"What are _we,_ chopped liver?" Josiah whispered to Shifa.

"Actually," I said, "we came to speak to you, _your highness._" I dipped into a deep mocking bow.

"Could it possibly wait?" asked Dr. King. "He is needed to make the decision."

"I'm afraid it's urgent," I insisted. "I'm on business from my father."

Minos eyes narrowed. He was calculating his options. He could take a chance and refuse, but he wasn't sure if I was bluffing or not. I put on a confident face, which wasn't hard since I had told the truth. For the most part. Finally Minos decided that I wasn't lying and said, "I will step outside with his _majesty_ and his friends for two minutes."

He followed us outside the pavilion. As soon as we were out of earshot of the other two judges he spun on me and spat, "What do you want you little cretin!"

I maintained a calm attitude and spoke, "You will answer all my questions and you will answer them truthfully." It had been said in a seemingly normal way. But he and I both knew the difference. I had used my power in my speech. I had made it so he had to obey me. Ever read Harry Potter? You know how the house elves have to do as they're told? When I intoned my voice with that power, I was basically doing the same thing as a master might do to their house elf. He couldn't disobey.

His face twisted with rage. "Fine. What do you want to ask?"

"Did you let three living humans in here recently? One of them had yellow eyes. Did you let them in?"

"Yes," he growled.

"And what did they promise you to let them in?"

His face twisted even further. "They promised me they would do what you failed to do for me. They promised me a new life."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought there was only the way you tried to have me do."

"Ignorant son of Hades. There are multiple ways. One would be to fling open the Doors of Death," the back of my neck prickled unexpectedly at that, "another would be a spell in the book the yellow-eyed one had."

"I see," I said. "And how did they escape the Underworld? They surely weren't foolish enough to leave via the wall again."

"They took a secret route. One unknown to most, and most fear to go near there."

"Why? Where is it, what routed are you talking about?"

Minos chuckled. "Why, the hole in the sky of course."

"That's not anywhere in the stories," Shifa said.

"It wouldn't be," I said grimly. I unfortunately knew what it was. "Get back to your job, Minos. You will be hearing from my father after the solstice."

That seemed to strike some fear in him, but he hid it quickly and said, "Very well."

After he was back in the pavilion, Josiah said, "Looks like you've got to explain some things, but first we need to eat. Could you please shadow travel us to Elysium? Please, please, please?"

I laughed. "Yeah okay."

-t-S-S-

After we'd eaten and I'd explained our grim situation, Josiah whistled in amazement. "There's no way the three of us can do that alone."

I nodded. "We'll need help."

"But from whom?" Shifa asked. "We're not exactly in a great position to get help. We're kinda stuck here in the Underworld for the time being."

"I'm sure we could find someone willing, right Nico?" Josiah said.

I wasn't so sure. We wouldn't want anyone from the Fields of Punishment, they couldn't be trusted. We wouldn't want anyone from the Fields of Asphodel because they were about as useful as stumps. And who in Elysium would want to temporarily give up paradise to help us? And this excluding the fact that we would need an extremely skilled fighter.

"Sounds like you need help with a dangerous quest," a familiar voice said behind me. I turned around and my jaw dropped. I'd been too busy to pay attention to who was dying (and regardless I usually tuned it out, people died all the time). If I had I might not have been so surprised that this person had died in battle last night. But I hadn't, so I was surprised to be staring at none other than Clarisse La Rue.

-t-S-S-

Jason panted under the weight of the sky. He was going to die. He was sure of it. But somehow he kept on living, doomed to hold the sky until someone took it from him. Atlas sauntered over.

"You're in luck Jason," he said. "My father will be here any minute. Now be warned, he's lost his memories so he might be a little doped, but when he comes to, I'm sure that he'll be very pleased to meet you."

Jason spat at Atlas, the spit red from the blood in his mouth. He didn't even address the part about Atlas's father, he merely said, "You _will_ rue the day you captured me Atlas. Make no mistake about that."

Atlas laughed. Jason growled.

**AN: Again, I'm very sorry.**


	5. Please don't kill me

Heh. Hi everyone. Please don't kill me. I um… yeah. I'm sorry. I really really am. The end of my senior year, then summer as a camp counselor, and now the first half of the first semester at college, was all a little overwhelming, and I'll admit that I put FanFiction on the back burner. I really do feel bad about this. I wouldn't be surprised if all of you who used to follow me gave up. And again, I am eternally sorry for that.

But this message isn't just to apologize. It is also to announce some news. Whether it is good or bad is up for you to decide.

The first bit of news: I am re-releasing The Curse of Echidna. It will be titled RE: Percy Jackson and the Curse of Echidna. Give me a couple weeks to get the editing off the ground, and you'll have a much, much better version of book 1 in my tetralogy.

Second bit of news: I think part of my problem was that I didn't spend enough time planning and didn't write ahead at all. That's why I was always dealing with writers block and why updates were so few and far between. So, I've decided that that is going to change. Book 2: Percy Jackson and the Stolen Spellbook will have the first few chapters re-edited, and then new content will start appearing. Now, I know you're all thinking, "YAY, FINALLY!" but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

You see, I'm going to need some time to write several chapters ahead and write out detailed plans for the rest of the story. As a result, the Stolen Spellbook is going on hiatus. That's part of the reason I am re-releasing Curse of Echidna, to give you something to tide you over until I'm ready to start releasing new stuff for Stolen Spellbook. There will be a few significant changes to Curse of Echidna, so it'll be worth re-reading it. The original will still be here on fanfiction, too, in case anyone wanted to compare and contrast. Give it about a week or two, and then look for RE: The Curse of Echidna.

Again, I am so very sorry. And I don't blame anyone who decided to stop following me.


	6. CONTEST

Hello everyone, very nice to talk to you all again. This notice is to inform you of a few things. Firstly, it is appearing in a couple different locations. So, if you are reading this at the beginning of curse of Echidna, I would advise you not to read past the first couple chapters, because a remake of this story is coming very soon. Why even read the first couple chapters? I'll get to that in a moment.

If you are reading this at the tail-end of The Stolen Spellbook, as stated above, the remake of Curse of Echidna is on its way soon. At the very latest, I plan to post the first five chapters by December first, though I hope to post them much sooner than that. I would advise that you read this remake, because there have been some minor changes. For example, the Halloween chapter has been replaced by an entirely different chapter, which will play significance in the story to come.

Now, the reason I am addressing all of you, is this. I would love some cover artwork for my re-release of Curse of Echidna, but I am a lousy artist. So, I am opening the position of this series' artist to all of you. How am I going to pick who becomes my artist? Well, anyone who's interested should create their cover art either on the computer, or by hand (if by hand, please scan into your computer to send it along). Once you have created your artwork and have it on your computer, attach it to an email and send it to curseofechidna (insert at symbol, for some reason, it refuses to stay in the text) gmail . com (no spaces, of course). My favorite will become the cover for Re: The Curse of Echidna. Those of you who have yet to read it, that's why I said it was okay to read the first couple chapters, perhaps they'll give you an idea for the cover.

Alright, rules:

1) Your artwork must be original.

2) Somewhere on there, I'd like the name of the story (either The Curse of Echidna or Re: The Curse of Echidna will work).

3) Keep it clean, keep it classy. If something with inappropriate content is entered, it will be disqualified, so don't even bother.

4) If you would like to include a brief statement about your artwork, that's fine, but keep it brief. At the most, two paragraphs.

5) If you don't win, please don't be bitter. Don't be a sore loser, because I am sure that your artwork is fantastic, and picking is going to be very difficult.

6) Have fun. That is, to me, the most important bit. Please, enjoy yourself.

Besides possibly having your artwork featured as the cover, all of your entries will be put up for display on a lovely webpage (more news on that later). The deadline for entry is November 30th, so make your artwork and, again, have fun.


	7. It's here!

Hello, hello. It is 12:55 am, Eastern Standard Time as I write this message. Tomorrow morning, whenever I wake up, I will start posting RE: The Curse of Echidna. I will be posting the first five chapters over the course of the day (an hour or two apart from each other), as well as a bonus "interlude" chapter. I do not know if I'll be able to post a full five chapters next week, because finals are just around the corner. Yay college….. Anyway, if not, I will definitely post something, however much it may be. Alright, so keep an eye out for RE: The Curse of Echidna tomorrow morning. Byes!

Oh, also the deadline for the artwork contest has been moved to January 1st. Okay, bye.


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